ellis island museum

i went on to the ellis island museum as the last stop on the statue of liberty ellis island tour. i'd have to say this was probably the best part of the trip. the museum is surprisingly expansive. i think we almost missed the majority of the museum by not going upstairs. i didn't think it was clearly marked that there was more to the museum than the big exhibit (although not really enough to make a whole museum) on the first floor. the guts of the museum are in this offshoots on the main "welcoming hall" where the immigrants would go through, answer questions and were examined for health. you really have to walk far (past basically unmarked doors) to get to them.

the guts of the museum is pretty cool. a quick summary of the different sections that i remember:

• a demographics section: who came from where and to where, when, why, how. who in terms of age, gender, race, ethnicity. i found my great grandfather (who got our last name changed at ellis island because he had bad handwriting) in the database
• a "stuff" section: what did people bring across. the variety of objects.
• a "once you got to ellis island" section: this section walks visitors through the stages immigrants would go through once they arrived. for example, the medical examination, currency exchange, mental exam, legal paper work section. it also went through what would happen if you were detained for some reason or how charitable service groups would assist newcomers to new york.
• "how ellis island was refurbished" section
• "how ellis island was developed" section: they had these super cool dioramas of how the island grew (since it literally was a land fill) through time
• a "usa immigration policy" section: this reviewed americans view towards immigrants and how policies were changes throughout time pertaining to immigrants

i think that about sums it up...

times visited: 1
time spent in museum: 3 hrs
overall: B+